i rage every day
by Marvelgeek42
Summary: "I'm actually a girl. I'm just born in the wrong body." Teagan, her hair a bright purple — it always is a bright color while their parents are away — looks at her. Like, really looks at her. "I'm sorry." [Netflix verse of TUA; Part 4 of "people who don't believe in champions"]


**Me, while plotting this: That would be like the biggest dick move for the universe to pull between Nomi and Teagan.**

**And then somehow it's kind of fluff-y? Ish?**

* * *

Nomi loves her sister.

She really does.

That does in no way mean that she is not incredibly jealous of her at the same time.

* * *

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Nomi Marks is born via a cesarean as Michael on August 8, 1988.

The pregnancy is planned in every detail and doctors are on call every step of the way.

Thirteen months and twenty-three days later, on October 1, 1989, Teagan Marks is born naturally.

This pregnancy is not.

* * *

Michael — even if she never _really_ was Michael, was she? Not quite — notices something is different about him (her) when (s)he is about five years old.

There is a big fuss about what you're allowed to do if you're a boy and what are purely Girl Things. Michael does not understand any of it. The idea of wearing a dress sounds quite nice, actually. It would probably look great on him (her).

Their father disagrees (strongly, vocally).

So does their mother (strongly, physically).

Teagan — and she really is Teagan in every regard — notices something is different about her when she is even younger.

Aside from the unorthodox circumstances of her birth, that is.

It is rather hard to miss her shapeshifting, after all.

This oddity gets rewarded by their parents.

She gets called a miracle, a gift from God.

Michael does not think this is fair at all.

* * *

It gets worse, for a few years.

It gets better as well, but that is later.

It involves the most gorgeous and understanding woman Nomi can imagine, among others.

* * *

Once, late at night, when they are lying under a blanket together, watching some movie or other, Nomi asks a question. Nomi is twelve at that point and Teagan almost eleven. The bowl of popcorn is almost empty and their parents aren't expected to return for another hour or two at least.

"Can you shift into a boy?"

Teagan looks at her, confusion in her eyes.

"I guess, I could, probably. It never thought about trying. Why are you asking?"

Nomi — she has just picked the name for herself and she is very excited about that — looks at her sister.

"Can you keep a secret from Mom and Dad? Just for a while, I'm not quite ready to tell them yet."

"Of course," she looks Nomi right into the eyes, her expression innocent and full of determination. "That's what siblings are for."

She'll keep her secret. Nomi is sure of it.

So she takes a deep breath.

"I'm actually a girl. I'm just born in the wrong body."

Teagan, her hair a bright purple — it always is a bright color while their parents are away — looks at her. Like, really looks at her.

"I'm sorry."

They both know what she is talking about, without her having to say anything else.

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

(Nomi wants nothing more in life than to borrow her sister's power for just a minute and change her body the way she wants it to be.

Because it bothers her more and more every day, it grows more _wrong_ with every passing moment.

Teagan can take it back right after, really.

She would need it just this once.)

* * *

They do not talk about the incident at the swimming pool.

* * *

They do not talk about the day Nomi comes out to her family.

* * *

They do not talk much at all.

That is, Nomi and her parents.

Nomi and Teagan still talk.

They are sisters and they are the kind of sisters that do everything for each other.

* * *

There's news on TV, about a group of children born on the same day as Teagan fighting crime as actual superheroes. The Umbrella Academy.

Teagan sits in front of the TV, a deep sense of _want_ in her eyes. She shifts all of her clothes into replicas of the uniform for around three weeks.

(They don't understand how this works, but clothes turn back to their original form once Teagan stops wearing them.)

Nomi knows just enough about human rights at this point that she finds the whole thing incredibly suspect.

Didn't he say that the parents had been suitably compensated? As in they had been bought? Doesn't that make it human trafficking? And slavery? And child endangerment? And vigilantism? And probably more things Nomi has not figured out yet?

(She discovers later, that Hargreeves had visited their house as well when they had been small, with the intention to add Teagan to his collection.

Their parents had said no.

One of the few things they had done right, if you ask Nomi.)

* * *

High school is hell.

There isn't really much more that needs to be said about that.

* * *

They do not talk about the day Nomi hacks the Pentagon, either.

Or the day she covers up Bug doing it.

Or the day she does it again.

(There's a weird file about a man that sounds oddly like time travel.

Nomi doesn't quite know what to do with that.)

* * *

Nomi leaves for San Francisco the first chance she gets.

She continues her career as a hacktivist, starts a semi-important YouTube channel, and does some contracted hacking.

She gets by.

* * *

She chats on the phone with Teagan once a week on average and message each other in between.

Nomi loves these conversations with every fiber of her being, but she doesn't live for them.

She finds her place in this city.

She finds herself, too.

(Except for the parts of her that only turn up a few more years down the road.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

* * *

Teagan leaves the moment she can, too.

Her hair is usually short and varying shades of anything from red over yellow and blue to purple.

She goes to college and she studies law — she has always had perfect grades after all.

After a while, she meets Tom there, too, and they belong together, anyone can tell that if they spend more than five minutes with them.

(Nomi wants something like that in her life as well.)

* * *

(And she gets it.)

One day, Nomi visits a book store, looking for a rare book.

The book is right in the hand of the incredibly attractive employee.

They introduce each themselves and plan a date.

Then another and another and another and before they know it, they've moved in together.

They're in love.

(Amanita grew up different from her. She has three Dads, but no siblings. All of them are really nice, and her Mom is as well.

Amanita listens to Nomi when she talks about Teagan, the odd circumstances of her birth, her abilities, and how hard it was to keep the jealously from turning into resentment.

She listens, and she always says exactly what Nomi needs to hear afterwards.)


End file.
